Boost your salon with these 5 business hacking apps

J, P & G: “How do you feel at the end of the day?
Are you sad because you’re on your own?”

Ringo: “No, I get by with a little help from my…apps!”

Did you know that micro-business owners work an average of 52 hours a week? That’s fifteen hours more than the average UK employee. One of the most common misconceptions is that the self-imposed lifestyle of an entrepreneur HAS to be this way. We don’t agree. Here’re five awesome apps that can cut some of the corners for you:

IFTTT is an app that tells your phone to perform a certain action (“that”) if a specific event occurs (“this”) by tying all of your other apps together. For instance, if the weather service predicts rain, IFTTT sends you a message, so you can encourage your customers to bring an umbrella and they won’t spoil their perfect haircut. Obviously, that’s just one of the endless amount of possibilities for this handy app.

We know that part of your job is to scroll through social media for the latest health and beauty trends, but some tasks require your undivided attention. Forest is an app that helps you stay focused on the task at hand, and away from distractions. You set a timer for the desired amount of focus time, and a seed is planted. When the timer reaches zero, the tree is fully grown and you can plant it in your Forest of Diligence (a feat which gets kind of addictive). However, if you get distracted and quit the app to check your Instagram for the latest skincare products from Korea, the tree dies, and you should be ashamed of yourself!

Ever had a business-changing idea about some new epic spa treatment while driving a car or standing in line at the grocery store? And forgotten about it by the time you reached work, resulting in extensive headbanging against the wall? Evernote lets you take notes in all ways imaginable and organizes them on a platform easily accessible on all your units.

Expensify´s promise is simply “Expense reports that don’t suck!” and delivers just that. Which – in all humility – is good enough for anyone who has spent countless hours on collecting beauty product receipts or tracking time and mileage.

Mailchimp is THE app for communicating with your customers (or suppliers). With a user-friendly interface and powerful tools to create pinpointed e-mail marketing about the latest fitness trends, you can capture the attention of your recipients and review their behaviour afterwards.

Obviously, the only app you really need. (No, no, honestly, we’re not biased at all!) iZettle’s an essential service for those who take payments as part of their business (which – as we’ve found out – is almost everyone). Whether you are a PT giving orders at the gym, a beautician with fifty customers a day or a travelling masseuse, iZettle’s the app for you.

So what are you waiting for? Get these ingenious little apps pronto and go do something fun with all the time and money you’ll save. Surely, you’ve deserved it.